JANUARY 2004

Long gone are the days when skate parks were few and far between and kids congregated at homemade backyard half-pipes. Skateboarding is a booming industry, and if you don't want skaters tearing up your benches, handrails and walls, it's time to build a skate park. Municipalities, private clubs, recreation centers all are doing it, so we look at the best designs to keep skateboarders happy, safe and entertained—and ways to make your park stand out from the pack.

No waterpark or pool should be a financial drain. The latest equipment and enhancements can help you help you save money on your water and electric bills as well as increase revenue by attracting patrons. Plus, we offer some programming tips to help keep your budgets buoyant.

Site amenities and furnishings for outdoor spaces haven't changed dramatically over the past few years but learning how to use them effectively has. Find out how studies in human behavior in public settings, programming needs and elements of good design can transform your site amenities from ho-hum after-thoughts into an essential part of a successful park equation.

Meeting the diverse and ever-changing strength-training needs of a wide range of exercisers can be a challenging task for any fitness facility. Selecting which strength machines is no longer as simple as opting for one product line or another. Rather, the decision involves identifying the right combination of machines for the needs of each facility's particular membership.

College students who participate in recreational sports and fitness activities are more likely to succeed in their academic endeavors and are more satisfied overall with their campus experience, according to a recent Kerr & Downs research report commissioned by the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA).

Creating a building's character can be equally important as designing its physical structure and determining what components will form the whole of it. Such was the case with The Centre of Elgin, a 185,000-square-foot community center that provides much-needed space for recreational and community programming in historic downtown Elgin, Ill.

Dick Kuhn of R.J. Kuhn Plumbing is a practical man—a practical man who operates his business in a cold climate. So, when he was asked to provide the plumbing work at Oswego's new Veteran's Memorial Park, he knew he was in for a challenge. You see, the park was designed to be open to visitors year round and that included ready access to the outdoor pedestal drinking fountain—a tall order during an Illinois winter.

Indoor waterparks are no longer just mom-and-pop operations—they are often huge structures than can cost millions. But no matter what the facility size, there seems to be a constant stream of innovations for these crowd-pleasing facilities.

Some indoor waterparks now are being built of treated laminated timber framing because timber resists the corrosion experienced when steel is exposed by moisture and humidity in enclosed spaces. Wood laminated beams are also a renewable material in contrast to steel and concrete, which can deplete natural resources.